Can a peace settlement be reached in Afghanistan?

Examines the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the UN sponsored peace negotiations that sought to end the conflict.

Description:

In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, marking the beginning of a long and violent conflict that drew the involvement of the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. While the Soviets quickly established a puppet regime in Kabul, they were met with fierce resistance in the countryside from fighters known as the mujahideen. Initially lightly armed and poorly equipped, the mujahideen would eventually receive hundreds of millions of dollars worth of covert aid from the United States and other nations. As the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan entered its seventh year, however, Pakistan and the Soviet-backed Afghan government were engaged in high-level peace talks sponsored by the UN. Yet despite some progress between the two parties, many in the international community questioned whether these negotiations were a serious and significant endeavor or simply a sideshow to the military conflict taking place on the ground. In this episode of American Interests, host Peter Krogh sits down with defense strategist Edward Luttwak and Selig Harrison of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to discuss the UN peace negotiations and the future of Afghanistan.